


to unsee the weathered

by KinChan



Series: Writer's Month August 2019 [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Crushes, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Nonbinary Character, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 04:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20221966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KinChan/pseuds/KinChan
Summary: It was happening again, And she had no idea what to do, again.





	to unsee the weathered

**Author's Note:**

> For Writer's Month Day 3: Coffe Shop AU
> 
> I hope I did it justice.

It was happening again. And she had no idea what to do, _again_.

Like every Saturday morning at opening hours a certain person was perched on their chair, in the front corner half facing the windows. They had come exactly 15 minutes after she had opened up her little coffee shop, and settled down on their usual seat, a black leather-bound notebook open and a elegant black fountain pen swirling in their hand. 

_They_ because the shop owner still hadn't managed to figure out their gender, which was something she was trying to avoid as of late, exactly because of this particular customer who started to make her wonder, but well...old habits die hard, right?

Their apperiance didn't make it easy, because it was quiet a mix of feminine and masculine. Dyed, well cared for hair cascading down their broad shoulders, make up framing their chocolate brown eye(the right one was constantly covered by their fringe; out of sight) and that they frequently changed their look made it especially difficult. Some days fully styled with heavily shadowed eyes, red painted lips and open hair, a nondescript hoodie or button up shirt, some days no make up at all, hair stuffed under a cap or gathered in a ponytail and a flowy dress like outfit accenting curves.

But ultimately their voice was what completely had confused her when they first met a few weeks ago. They had greeted her with a warm, polite "Good morning." and a soft smile. That you couldn't clearly identify it as male or female, but rather an androgynous tone, was unusual to her to say the least, which made it all the more bewildering.

This was not the problem tough; of course not. After the first sceptical curiosity of being around such a unique personality, the middle-aged woman had quickly realized that they, obviously, were just another human being in search of some coffe, a customer like any else, if a bit...different and odd to her. 

But by now she'd even go as far as saying they were becoming one of her favourite customers and it seemed the other was thinking along the same lines, or at least she hoped they were, since they kept coming every Saturday and sometimes on weekdays too. Usually they'd quietly settle into their place and patiently wait for her to finish getting her shop ready. Always directing a gentle smile towards her when she came to get their order -- a white coffee with one cube of sugar -- and thanking her with a polite nod. Sometimes getting a second cup or a slice of cake, they'd spend the rest of the day totally immersed in writing page after page in their notebook. 

Since the shop owner had to take care of other customers as well, especially as the morning went on, she had never much time to discretely find out what it was they were writing, and thought it to be too intrusive or maybe a bit rude to ask directly, so she just continued to observe them whenever they came.

At first she had though them to be an author and driven by curiosity, after she had finally gathered some courage to actually ask, she approached them one day.

They had laughed. A dazzling, blindingly bright sound escaping their lips and her breath had caught in her chest for a moment as she watched them gather their composure again. "Ah, no, but that was a close call. I'm an artists creating stories to be conveyed through music," they said smiling impishly. "I have a band, but if we hadn't gotten the chance to get a reasonable contract here, I might have pursued writing seriously."

So she had gotten her answer and she didn't know wheter she was disappointed, because in all the uninvited thoughts slipping into her mind throughout the weeks, she'd like to imagine they were a mysterious young author wanting to retreat into the silence of her coffe shop to concentrate on writing, or excited, because she had never met a musician and her mind was running wild with new information it was provided with! 

Honestly how could she resist fantasising of a sweat drenched beauty swaying to the rhythm of the music on stage, dark hair glued to their neck and with a bright smile playing quick chords on their guitar, or maybe passionately singing along to some heart wrenching ballad. 

Just thinking about it made her knees wobble dangerously, and she had never thought herself to be much open minded and willing to accept things different from her view, since she'd been raised by conservative parents, who were still not talking to her since she _'still hadn't found a suitable husband'_. It lessend as she grew though she never thought _that_ much, but she too used to be very strict and single-minded when she was young. Not that she was old now, but the young musician was at least half a decade younger than her and the epitome of unconventional, wheter that be their style or unidentifiable gender expression.

But, if she was honest with herself, she found that she simply didn't care as long as she'd be able to continue silently appreciating their presence. And...yes, okay...maybe also swoon about their polite manners and their gorgeous looks, the shining brown eye and the always gentle smile they would greet her with and...

No, for real, she had to get herself together! She couldn't afford drifting off now, with the problem at hand. But god, how was she supposed to do anything when she couldn't even manage to move from her spot behind the counter. She couldn't help but stare, now that they wouldn't notice it; leaned against their palm, a shoulder pressed to the cool window and fast asleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly fell in love with these characters as I kept writing, especially the shop owner.
> 
> Who knows, maybe she might appear in some coming stories...
> 
> Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
